A GREEN, not-for-profit group has stepped in to purchase the derelict Luneside Engineering premises on the banks of the River Lune at Halton.
The site is part of the controversial Halton Mills redevelopment area. It was owned by developers Time and Tide, who went into administration last year, before they could start on their plan to build 56 'live-work' units and a block of flats.
Lanc
aster Cohousing, the new owners, are proposing a smaller scale development of offices, workshops and housing together with shared community facilities. They intend to draw up new plans for the site in consultation with the local community and neighbouring businesses as well as the future residents, who together will make up Lancaster Cohousing Com-pany.
Jon Sear, of Lancaster Cohousing, said: "Our aim is to create an environment that is not only a fantastic place to live and work but that will also be nationally recognised as an example of how to build community and enable zero-carbon living."Lan-caster Cohousing was set up in 2006 by a small group of local people. Their vision is to create "an intergenerational cohousing community that will encourage social interaction and will be built on ecological values". Many of the 14 current households have sold their homes to make the funds available to start the project.
The cohousing model of development is relatively new to the UK but well tested in countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands. Each household has its own modest private house, but there is also a common house, similar to a small village hall, containing social space, and shared facilities such as washing machines.
